Inside Jokes
by VictoryNike
Summary: A muggle girl, Maggie, spots a couple of seemingly normal boys leaning on a seemingly normal wall in London. Unfortunately for her though, those two boys are James and Sirius, and she's about to become the victim of a huge inside joke.


**Disclaimer:** Hogwarts, the Marauders, etc. belong to JK Rowling.

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Two black haired boys with windswept hair leaned casually on the brick wall that just so happened to be the entrance to Diagon Alley, but Maggie didn't know that. One of them ruffled his already messy hair.

Maggie walked over to them, flipping her long brown hair over her shoulder. It wasn't often she found two good looking and apparently available guys just standing there. "Hi!" she said, putting on a huge smile. "Do either of you know the way to a shop called Urban Outfitters? I've lost my way,"

The boys looked at each other and grinned. "Well I've never heard of a shop like that, have you Padfoot?" said the boy with hazel eyes and adorably messy hair.

"Can't say I have," said the other boy, who had long hair that fell gracefully into his eyes.

Maggie mentally cursed for having come up with such a stupid fake name for a shop. She tried another tactic. "So how come I never see either of you around town? What school do you guys go to?"

The boys looked at each other, slightly amused. "Oh we go to a boarding school, up in Scotland, actually," said the hazel eyed one.

"Scotland, eh? I don't fancy Scotland much myself. Too many men in skirts," Maggie hoped they would get her joke about kilts.

The boys began laughing so hard, Maggie wondered if they were really laughing at her joke.

"How about men in robes?" choked one of them.

"Huh?" Maggie asked, her smile fading. What in the world were they going on about? Men in robes? Were they likening robes to kilts...?

Maggie changed the topic again. "I've a cousin that goes to a boarding school in Scotland too, actually, what's your school called?"

The boys exchanged a look. Once more, Maggie couldn't help feeling like there was something she didn't know. "Hogwarts," said the one with the sparkling gray eyes and hair that fell to his collarbone.

What? A school named after a pig's skin condition? Were they making fun of her? What if there really was a school called Hogwarts? What if there wasn't? Maggie laughed nervously, just in case they were making a joke.

Just then, a girl with long, dark red hair and bright emerald eyes walked up to them. She looked from Maggie to the two boys. She seemed to be holding something long and thin in her hand. A stick, perhaps? Maggie looked at it curiously. The girl noticed Maggie looking and quickly stuffed it back into the bag she had slung over her shoulder.

"Evans!" cried one of the boys, running a hand through his hair. "Good to see you again!"

"I'm afraid I can't say the same, Potter." The girl said airily. The boy seemed somewhat downcast for a moment, but the girl didn't notice. She was too busy eying the wall the boys were leaning against for some odd reason.

"Hello there, Black," she said distractedly to the other boy.

"Evans," he said, lifting up his chin in greeting.

Maggie felt extremely annoyed. They evidently knew each other. She shoved herself back into the conversation.

"So... what are your names?" she asked, glaring at the redhead.

"Sirius," said the boy with long hair and gray eyes.

"James Potter," the boy with hazel eyes and glasses said. Then, to her horror, he put an arm around the redhead. "and this is Lily Evans, she goes to our school." he said, grinning.

The redhead shoved him away. "That's Evans to you," she said, annoyed, "Now would you two move over?"

"I'm Maggie," Maggie said loudly. The redhead-Lily, looked at her. She smiled politely.

"Nice to meet you," she said kindly.

"Same here," Maggie answered.

"Are you... er... are you...?" Lily seemed to be trying to ask her something. Lily looked around at James and Sirius. They shook their heads.

"Oh, no, I don't go to Hogwarts, if that's what you mean," Maggie said, still annoyed with the way they were acting. Why did this girl have to show up now and mess everything up?

Lily turned to James and Sirius, her eyes wide. They met her shocked glance with amused expressions. "That's not funny, that's not funny at all, you know how much trouble-"

"Oh please!" Maggie said, interrupting Lily, "It's not like I'd actually believe your school was named after a pig's skin issues!" she rolled her eyes for effect.

The boys roared with laughter. "Of course... you... wouldn't!" choked James.

Lily appeared to be restraining her own laughter with great difficulty. "Yeah...these two are a couple of jokers. You shouldn't take anything they say seriously," she said.

Maggie frowned at her patronizing tone. She suddenly felt the need to assert herself. "What's that stick you were carrying before, anyway? A magic wand?" Maggie laid the sarcasm on pretty thick the last few words. She disliked this Lily girl for no good reason, and Maggie knew it, but that didn't stop her from giving Lily a challenging stare.

The boys had stopped laughing. Sirius was looking interestedly from Maggie to Lily. James moved to Lily's side. Lily gave him a look that said clearly, _go away_. James stepped back.

Lily smiled. "It's for a drama at school. The wand's just a prop. You know, in the play this girl gets a letter to go to a school for magic and the play is about her life..." Lily trailed off and put a hand to her mouth.

Sirius let out a sharp, bark-like laugh. James grinned.

"Why Evans, I thought your specialty was Potions, not Drama," James said to Lily.

"Potter!" Lily reprimanded, before catching sight of Maggie's baffled expression. Lily bit her lip.

"Careful Potter, or I just might brew a Shrinking Solution and slip it into your pumpkin juice. Then you could finally act your age," Lily told James, her face extremely solemn.

"In that case, I'd better Vanish your cauldron so you can't find it," James replied, mirroring her solemnity.

"Nah James, you should borrow her cauldron so you can brew a Love Potion and force feed it to Evans, since that's about the only way she'd go out with you," Sirius interjected.

Maggie looked at the three of them. What the hell were they saying? They were acting as if magic existed, and- Suddenly it dawned on her. They were playing with her, the lot of them. They were making up a load of crap about Hogwarts and magic and love potions and other nonsense.

Lily, James, and Sirius were all looking pointedly away from each other to try and control their laughter. Maggie seethed.

"Oh I get it now, you lot are all messing with me," Maggie tossed her hair angrily. "Well you're a bunch of fools if you thought I'd fall for _that_ bullshit."

With that, Maggie turned on her heel and hurried away from the wall and the three teenagers that were laughing their heads off beside it. _The nerve of them_, she thought as she walked briskly away from the scene,_ to think I'd believe in _magic_, of all things_.

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**Author's Note:** My first one shot... It was supposed to be humorous, but I don't think it came out that well :P This takes place right before the start of Lily, Sirius, and James's sixth year at Hogwarts. PLEASE REVIEW. Even if you hated it, review and tell me why (no flames, though, please). It really matters. All of you out there who write stories know it does. Come on, please please review!

~VictoryNike


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